Britain’s Jo Konta suffered a health scare as she crashed out of the opening round of the WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington on Monday with a straight-sets defeat to the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.
Third seed Konta requested medical attention just a few minutes into her 6-4, 6-4 first-round loss to the unseeded Bouzkova.
The 29-year-old
Briton looked uncomfortable and kept holding two fingers to her neck to check
her pulse before eventually resuming play.
Konta later
explained that she is prone to sudden palpitations that can send her heart rate
soaring.
“My heart rate
shoots up for no reason, we didn’t have a long point, I wasn’t gassing in any
way in my lungs,” Konta said.
“It makes me a bit
lightheaded, I just had to see the doctor and the physio.
“I was having all
the checks. I am as fit as a fiddle but it can happen. It took a while to
settle down until about 4-3 in the first set, but then it did settle down and I
was able to concentrate on the tennis.”
Konta said it was
the fourth time she had been affected by the problem during tournament play or
practice.
“We don’t know why
it happens, it’s in stressful situations, in non-stressful situations. It’s
been sporadic and we haven’t been able to capture it. I get very lightheaded
and I can’t function for the first few seconds,” she said.
“I am worried. It’s not ideal. I am going to have another EKG (electrocardiography) test, and hopefully, measure it. But probably now it won’t happen again for another year or something.”
Konta, the world number 15, was the highest-profile casualty on Monday in the opening round of the inaugural WTA event in Kentucky.
Other seeded
players in action made it safely into the second round, with Polish sixth seed
Magda Linette beating the United States’ Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2, and Tunisia’s
Ons Jabeur, seeded eight, downing another American, Caty McNally, 6-2, 6-4.
Second seed Aryna
Sabalenka of Belarus was taken to three sets by Madison Brengle before claiming
a 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 win.
This week’s event
is the first WTA tournament to be held in the United States following a
five-month hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Former world number
Serena Williams plays her opening match of the tournament on Tuesday against
Bernarda Pera.
